Every March during Manufacturing Week, we celebrate the incredible impact that manufacturing has on Manitoba's economy. Our province and its capital, Winnipeg, is Canada's hub for advanced manufacturing with 1,400 manufacturing companies, 42,000 employees and more than $80 million invested in post-secondary innovation. We have the largest centre for transportation manufacturing in North America and we are home to a stable system of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and suppliers. We also lead the way in Industry 4.0 technologies. 

Here are ten reasons why Winnipeg is the ideal place for manufacturing companies to succeed on the global stage:

1. Cutting-edge training for students and industry research including Red River College's Skilled Trades and Technology Centre (STTC), Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology(MITT), University of Manitoba’s Price Faculty of Engineering’s Intelligent Digital Manufacturing Laboratory.

2. Internationally renowned advanced manufacturing research and development facilities including University of Manitoba’s Industrial Technology Centre (ITC), Manitoba Institute for Materials, Red River College’s Technology Access Centre for Aerospace & Manufacturing, Industrial Automation and Robotic Facilities, and North Forge's Fabrication Lab.

3. We have technology leaders, innovators and globally renowned companies headquartered in our own backyard. Just a few examples include NFI Group, which is leading the way in green technology with its next-generation electric buses or Winpak’s sustainable packaging. Price Industries, leveraged its expertise to evolve its fan filter units to scrub contaminants or viral particles out the air in COVID-19 units in hospitals, while Precision ADM developed N95-grade respirators for health care workers. 

4. Winnipeg has the largest research and development (R&D) tax credit in Canada—the Manitoba Research and Development Tax Credit Competitive tax credit and the Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. The Province of Manitoba's Innovation Growth Program, provides support to businesses that are pursuing innovation and new opportunities while the Research Manitoba’s Innovation Proof of Concept grant is also available.

5. Strong industry support from groups such as the Prairie Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing (PCAM), WestCaRD and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters Manitoba. The industry consistently brings the manufacturing community together with powerful insights and programming such as its Dare to Compete Conference on March 23 & 24, 2021.

6. Food processing is the largest manufacturing sector in Manitoba with total manufacturing sales of $19 billion in 2019. We have 189 food and beverage manufacturing companies located in Winnipeg (CMA).

7. Winnipeg farm equipment manufacturers like Buhler Industries and MacDon are in demand for their products and expertise in precision farming. MacDon just added a third shift to its production line in Winnipeg.

8. Winnipeg is the largest aerospace centre in Western Canada and the third largest in Canada, with aerospace manufacturing leaders like Boeing, StandardAero and Magellan, which recently announced the delivery of the 200th set of F-35 Lightning II horizontal stabilizer assemblies under an agreement with BAE System.

9. Our innovation in manufacturing is getting attention. Winnipeg’s Orthopedic Innovation Centre along with Precision ADM, received funding through the federal government’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative to improve the manufacturing of orthopedic implants using medical science, imaging and industrial 3D printing.

10. Global manufacturing companies like Roquette, Emergent Biosolutions and Winpak are drawn to Winnipeg because of our highly skilled labour force, low-cost renewable energy, agile transportation and logistics infrastructure as well as our tax credits.

Companies can innovate and grow here because of strong partnerships between industry, private sector, educational institutions and the government. Want to learn more? Check out our website.